Fiambre, Guatemala’s Traditional Day of the Dead Dish

Fiambre is an enormous cold salad made in Guatemala for Dia de los Muertos on Nov. 1 every year. The platter is typically made with an astonishing combination of sliced meats, cold cuts, cheeses, vegetables and pickled delicacies — piled high. ”Fiambre has more than 18 ingredients and can go as many as 100, depending on each family’s tradition and tastes,” says Chicago mom Jeannifer Hernandez.

This November 1, Jeannifer is proudly bringing her fiambre family recipe to her daughter Sophia’s Day of the Dead celebration at Sacred Heart school in the city. Her dish will be served alongside a very special chocolate marquesa cake from Venezuela and hot, chocolatey champurrado from Mexico that other Sacred Heart parents are bringing in honor of the many culinary ways Day of the Dead is celebrated across Latin America.

”I learned to make fiambre watching my grandmother and mom preparing it. How they would go about getting the ingredients together a few days before the special day,” Jeannifer says. ”Now that my grandma is in heaven, making this gives me a connection to her.”

Jeannifer grew up in Guatemala City and moved to the United States at age 16. Making this traditional dish every year on Day of the Dead helps her pass on her homeland’s religious and cultural traditions to the next generation in her family. “My Abuelita had an altar where she used to put flowers and candles,” Jeannifer remembers. ”Now, we mainly prepare this dish on November 1 in memory of our loved ones in heaven. That’s how we celebrate them.”

According to lore, the dish — the word fiambre in Spanish means “cold cuts” — came into existence because families traditionally visited their loved ones’ graves every Nov. 1, and took their favorite foods while they prayed and told stories of the dead. Over time, the graveyard visitors started combining their meals, the tale goes — and the resulting concoction became the official dish of Guatemala’s Day of the Dead celebration.

Fiambre is traditionally served at the annual feast in one giant platter — all the components layered together beautifully— or separately in a series of containers. There are four ways of making it: 1) fiambre rojo, like Jeannifer’s recipe, which includes beets that give the entire dish a red hue; 2) fiambre blanco, without beets; 3) fiambre verde, without meat; and 4) fiambre desarmado or deconstructed, in which each ingredient is served separately, like a giant salad bar.

”My family’s recipe is special and unique because each family finds their own flavors. So that means you can add and take out whatever your family’s tastes desire. And this is ours,” says Jeannifer.

This time-intensive, nostalgic meal is made just once a year, says Jeannifer. Each household works for days to marinate, cook, pickle and otherwise prep the average 50 items that go into the dish. To save time, ”I go to Mexican grocery stores in Chicago and buy a lot of the ingredients already prepared,” Jeannifer says.

While she’s at the Mexican tienda picking up items like al pastor-style pork, steak and other ready-to-serve foods, Jeannifer says she makes sure to always bring home a package of tostadas. That is how her daughter likes to eat fiambre. Sophia takes a smattering of her favorite meats and the curtido, the vinegar-cured cabbage and other vegetables garnish, and stuffs them into a tostada, says her mom.  “We tell her that she likes to eat enchiladas Guatemaltecas,” jokes Jeannifer.

Sophia’s way of enjoying fiambre may not be traditional, but that’s the point of this dish. Every family customizes the sprawling buffet of ingredients, tailoring the meal to include their favorite flavors, as well as those of their much-missed family members who are no longer with us. (For more on the healing connection between Day of the Dead food, drink and grief, read our interview with Mexican therapist Valentina Prida.)

Ready to Make Guatemalan Fiambre for Day of the Dead?

Fiambre, the Essential Day of the Dead Dish in Guatemala

Recipe by Jeannifer Hernandez

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Guatemalan

Servings

8 to 10

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

20

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 6 beets, peeled and diced

• 3 carrots, peeled and diced

• 6 bay leaves

• 1 head cabbage

• 1 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 tsp oregano

• 1/2 tsp thyme

• 2 tsp salt, divided

• 1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste

• 1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets

• 10 radishes, sliced in half (in traditional zigzag pattern, if you can)

• 3 eggs, hard boiled

• 1 bunch parsley, chopped

• 1 can Manzanilla olives

• 1 cucumber, sliced

• 1 can baby corn ears

• 1 bunch asparagus, fresh

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• Cheeses

• 1 package American cheese

• 1 package queso fresco

• 1 package parmesan cheese

• Meat

• 1/2 lb steak, grilled or roasted (like carne asada)

• 2 breasts chicken, boiled and sliced

• 1/2 lb pork, al pastor-style or marinated, cooked (Jeannifer uses store-bought)

• Cold Cuts

• 1 lb ham

• 12 hot dogs

• 1/2 lb salami

• 1/2 lb sausage, including chorizo and mix of others

Directions

• Make the Curtido, Usually the Day Before
• Chop beets and carrots into dice-size squares.
• Thinly shred the cabbage.
• Fill a saucepan with 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Add beets, carrots and bay leaves and boil for 8 minutes.
• Add shredded cabbage and boil for 5 minutes, until the cabbage is just tender.
• Add vinegar, oregano, thyme, 1 tsp salt and pepper. (The curtido is typically made at least 1 day in advance to give it time to lightly ferment, says Jeannifer. It is similar to sauerkraut.) Set aside.
• Boil the cabbage, beets, carrots and herbs in vinegar to make the curtido.
• Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a low boil. Add 1 tsp salt.
• Boil the chicken breasts for about 12 minutes or until cooked through. Remove and set aside.
• Add cauliflower and boil until the florets are tender. Remove and set aside.
• Toss the asparagus in olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Set aside.
• Boil the eggs. Remove and let cool. Peel and slice in half. Set aside.
• Chop the parsley. Set aside.
• Slice the American cheese in thin strips. Set aside.
• Crumble the queso fresco into tiny pieces. Set aside.
• Slice all the cold cuts into thin strips. Set aside.
• Shred the breasts from a home-roasted or store-bought rotisserie chicken. Set aside.
• Slice the cooked steak or carne asada into thin pieces. Set aside.
• Chop the al pastor-style cooked pork into small pieces. Set aside.
  
• Slice the cooked steak and marinated pork.
• In a very large, festive serving platter, place the curtido mixture of cabbage, carrots and beets (already lightly fermented).
• Add the rest of the cold cuts, each in their own section.
• Add the radish halves, their tops cut into a zigzag pattern for decoration, if possible.
  
• Add the Manzanillo olives.
• Add the cooled, roasted asparagus.
• Add the slices of meat, each in their own section.
• Top with the slices of cheese, slices of cucumber and baby corn.
• Enjoy!

Notes

• Add or delete ingredients according to your family’s tastes, advises Jeannifer. You can even add seafood if you wish, she adds.